Proposed Environment Agency Temp. Flood Barrier.
It can be revealed that the Environment Agency were quite seriously considering the possibility of a  "Somerset Levels type"  long length, (250mtr) temporary barrier, to be erected at short notice, at times of flood risk to the village of MILLHOUSE from the stacked  river Caldew over topping the defence bank at times when the bridge becomes overwhelmed.
The Environment Agency adviser Engineer, Phil Jones stated that this proposed temporary barrier would divert the potentially huge volume of stacked overflowing defence bank flood water to some-how squeeze through the old Millrace Arch, saving the village from lagooning, and a further flooding desaster.

He admitted that it was their way of claiming they were willing to do something for the village without having to install an expensive perminant infrastructure, even though there was uncertainty it would be effective.
He also admitted that he was not aware of the small experimental slot that has been recently installed in the wall adjacent the obstruction wall.  Does the right hand really know what the left hand is doing, at the Environment Agency?
In reality, the modular barrier, (which would need to be a minimum of 8ft tall to cope with a similar depth as December 2015)  would have to be loaded onto numerous lorries, from warehouses probably located out of Cumbria, transported to the village probably through flooded roads, all at short notice, unloaded from the transportation vehicles, erected by a squad of workers, (even through the hours of darkness) from the eastern side bridge wall to the upper reaches of the existing defence bank, (250mtrs) all in the short time of less than an hour.
The erection of the temporary barrier would be triggered by the existing "river watch" fast rise rate sensor situated in the Caldew at Linewath,  (just 4 or 5 miles upstream)  along with intelligence information from the Met office.

The distance from the fast rise rate sensor at Linewath is about 20 minutes in river flow rate terms.

We have got to ask, realistically would the modular barrier be loaded onto lorries from warehouses, transported to MILLHOUSE probably through flooded roads,  erected, probably through the hours of darkness, all in the space of 20 minutes?

We do have to also ask,  fellow villagers can we realistically trust an adviser engineer, and governing authority that makes proposals such as this?

The Environment Agency are brilliant at assessing micro organisms, water and air quality, vegetation, tree plantations, global warming, tidal routines, sanitation etc, to name just a few, all of which require lots of classroom learning time and experience, then exams to prove they've done it, but are they realistically up to the bib & brace practicality of civil engineering decisions and flood prevention?
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Mr JONES, (The Environment Agency adviser) was questioned by us about the logic,
and we also made him aware of the following:
(a) The main road water outfall terminal is situated adjacent the outlet side of this arch.  This road water outfall, when its engulfed by the river water through the arch, (which it would be) would stop the all important function of the village road drains, and cause a negative backflow up through the road gullies, and also the surface roadside gutter at the back of Fell View, with a result of the houses of the village being flooded.

(b) Also, the very important drain down Channel for the road water which flows down past the Mill would once again be blocked by this proposed temporary barrier.  This would then cause stacking of the blocked-off road water outlet channel, with a result of the houses of the village being flooded.

When asked about the engulfing of the road drains terminal outflow,  the rather arrogant response from Phil Jones was :-    "Oh we can install pumps to compensate for this".
In Reality these very large pumps take many hours or even several days to obtain, install and commission, which would have to be engine driven, requiring constant human intervention to maintain their intended function.

And if by some miracle, the pumps could be placed in position in time,  and as we are in the basin of a valley, where would this huge amount of surface and road drainage water be pumped to?   Perhaps to an already overflowing river?
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It is still the belief of some environmentalists, (who have obviously not witnessed the enormity and aggressive nature of a river in full spate flood mode first hand), that flood water can be some-how slowed down by so called upstream slow release plantations, dry dams and meandering methods. 
Those environmentalists should be surely invited to actually come out from their classrooms and witness the reality of the completely uncontrollable nature of a river in full spate flood mode, (to be along-side locals who do have first hand experience), in order for them to be finally convinced that realistically, a vigorous river in full spate flood mode can not be prevented from flowing through it's natural unscheduled gravitational path. 

"The No. 1 Golden Eternal rule created by earth's natural gravitational force":-
Water does "always" find its own level, without exception.
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